Wow Siege of Orgrimmar: LFR Part 1

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Last night I queued the Raid Finder version of the first part of Siege of Orgrimmar with a friend. I went in completely blind. That is, I didn’t know the names of the bosses, I hadn’t seen any videos, and I hadn’t read any guides beforehand. I hadn’t even opened the dungeon journal for a preview. I really had NO IDEA what I was in for.

As it turns out, either I happened to get a really good group for LFR, or the first wing really isn’t that hard. I recorded all of it, so expect some videos in the near future (once I’ve done a bit of editing).

Yes, we wiped. On trash, in fact. The boss fights went pretty smoothly though. I died on the Sha of Pride, and got to watch the rest of the fight, because, as ususal, I tried to finish a cast in progress before getting out of the fire. Always a bad idea. Dead = 0 dps, after all.

I picked up a couple of groovy new epics, including Sha Seared Sandals, and Gaze of Arrogance, which was awesome.

Final judgement, I had fun, and that’s what it’s all about for me.

FRAPS Vs MSI Afterburner for WoW Video Capture

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Just a quick post to tell you a little about my experience with both FRAPS and MSI Afterburner for video capture.

A couple of days ago, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could actually show you what I do to farm Sunsong ranch as fast as possible, and my convenient fast spot for farming windwool cloth?” Thus began my attempt to capture video and commentary of my gameplay.

Short story, I wasted 3 hours of my precious time before I got it mostly solved.

I’m the proud owner of a MSI GEFORCE GTX 650 video card. Not the best, I know, but it was a huge upgrade from my old one earlier this year. Having this card, somehow I found out about MSI Afterburner, which is free software with the capability to capture as video, whatever is on your screen in real time.

Cool! I thought. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. I installed it, and couldn’t figure out how to get it to work. So I googled, read some articles, and tried again. Nope. Found another article with clear instructions, followed it. Got it to record two videos, but no sound. Then it mysteriously stopped working. It wouldn’t recognize the hotkey to start. Tried something else. Watched video tutorials, read articles. Reinstalled. Multiple times.

Finally, I gave up. I had heard of FRAPS by beepa. Found the website, and thought “Looks kind of amateur.” With a little hesitation, I downloaded the free trial. Installed it.

I was immediately able to record gameplay. With sound. From both the game itself, and my headset. AWESOME. 30 seconds later I went back and paid $37.00 for the full version.

I haven’t used it much yet. But I certainly have plans now. You’ll be seeing video from me soon. Just as soon as I learn how to edit it…

The Top WoW Addons I Can’t Live Without

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There are some addons to World of Warcraft that I just don’t want to live without anymore. For a casual gamer, they make life easier, more bearable, less tedious.

1. Curse

It isn’t really an addon, but Curse.com‘s download client makes it easy to find, install and update addons. It’s indispensible, and it’s FREE!

2. EasyMail

Really, who want to spend their time multi-clicking their way through tons of in game mail to pick up gold and expired auctions? Easymail solves the tedium, and does it, get this, EASILY. Love it.

3. Auctionator

Just like EasyMail, Auctionator simplfies the tedium of administrative stuff. This time, the auction house posting, buying, selling, etc… Auctioneer may be better known, and in some ways more powerful, but I find that Auctionator does more than 80% of what I want with less than 20% of Auctioneer’s learning curve.

4. Deadly Boss Mods

I don’t have time to learn the boss fights from scratch. DBM helps me by keeping track of major boss mechanics, warning me, and generally guiding me through the encounters. It won’t play for you, but it sure helps avoid those “WTH just happened?” moments.

5. GTFO

As a casual player I just don’t have the same level of situational awareness that frequent raiders have. GTFO sounds a really obnoxious buzzer when you stand in the fire. Even after so many years, I still do it sometimes.

6. Elvui

Elvui makes my GUI look the way I want it to. Mostly really clean, with plenty of customization available. I can move stuff around, like making my cast bars into three rows of 12, so they sort of match a keyboard. This layout seems much more intuitive and less cluttered to me. Anything that makes it easier for me to play, reduces my time spent in unproductive play. It helps me lay out my various toons in the same conceptual way, too. That way I don’t accidentally hit TimeWarp on my mage instead of Blink after I’ve been playing my pally for a while.

I use Elvui

I use Elvui, recount, DBM, TSM, Easymail, GTFO, and others…

There are literally thousands of other addons. Many are great. I use a lot of addons that I haven’t mentioned here. This set, though, is the set I’d grab first if I had to do a clean slate install.

What are your must have addons?

Welcome to CasualWarcraft: How to Play World of Warcraft for Busy Dads

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I have a confession. I love WoW. But i don’t have much time to play. I’m 41. A dad to two young kids. I have a wife. I have a job. I’m on the go from 7 AM until 10 PM on weekdays. Iron a shirt. Get dressed. Make coffee. Breakfast. Get the kids to school. Get to work. 9am-6pm. Work out. Get home. Chat and play with the family. Have dinner. Get baths going. Brush teeth. Kids to bed. Get myself ready for the next day to do it again. 10 pm.

Ahhh… Done. Now I can have an hour or so to myself.
Time to play.
This is my WoW time. I typically play about 1 hour a night 4 nights a week, plus 1-2 hours a night on 2 weekend days. Eight hours a week, max. Not much, by the standards of most players. So I want to make the most of it.
Follow along with me as I figure out how to make the most progress in the least time.